Hi everyone.
Here's a test run of an online discussion. Click on the link below to read existing comments and to post your own.
For now, feel free to share your thoughts about "Salvation" and the ideas that emerged in our discussion. Here are a few prompts: How might a reader's own experiences with his or her family's religion compare to Hughes'? What are/were your own experiences? Is Hughes' making a comment about conformity through the metaphor of lambs and sheep? Is he making a larger point about religion? (Did the "hardened [adult] sinners" mentioned earlier in the story "come to Jesus" for the right reasons?)
A few tips:
This is an online DISCUSSION, so read all previous comments and refer to at least ONE of these when you post (unless, of course, you are first to post).
Keep your response brief (about 150-200 words) so that others will read your post. Get right to your point and avoid wordiness.
Finally, don't leave your FULL NAME. First names--or identifiable nicknames--only.
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35 comments:
In my family, my mom's side is not very religious while my dad's family is a very religious catholic family. However, my dad himself is not as adamantly religious as his family. He signs us up for Sunday School and such mostly out of tradition and culture of the family.
It's interesting how each generation is affected by the pressures of the generations before them - my dad moved farther away from religion, perhaps due to pressures, and with no pressures in my family, I am probably more of the religious one in my family.
I actually just got confirmed last year. Now I help teach a Latino Sunday school for 8-9 year olds every week for an hour, and I attend mass every Sunday on my own will.
Hughes really wanted to be religious, but all the pressure and expectations of everything really only pulled him farther away from it. His aunt especially really psyched him up for everything, only for him to be disappointed and most of all ashamed. It’s a lot of pressure for a 12 year old. It's a kind of trend where pushing people towards anything only brings them towards the opposite direction.
I completely agree with what KiKi said about how being pushed in a certain direction will only make you want to go the other way. I was raised to believe in science and not religion so when I was reading "Salvation" I couldn't relate to the pressure in that specific situation, of having to be "saved from sin" but I understood what the pressure felt like from other experiences.
I think that he is making a statement about conformity through the metaphor of lambs and sheep. Sheep follow the dominant figure because all they know is that you must follow the dominant figure or else you won't survive. I think Hughes is making the same sort of statement about religion with all the young sinners being saved by mighty God. And feeling obligated to be saved or else he wouldn't survive in society.
Like Kiki's Dad, my parents were raised religious but my sister and I were raised spiritual. We believed in God but chose not to go to church.
I started going to church with my cousins on my own for a while when I was 14 but I stopped when I had a similar experience to Hughes. We were having a revival of sorts and my cousin told me to go up and be "saved" which meant going up in front of the congregation and being touched on your forehead by the pastor. That’s not it though- after the "touch" the saved person would go into a "trance" of leaping, shouting, and speaking in tongues. I went up and did it all. I actually believed that I had received "the Holy Spirit". At the time at least.
As far as Hughes depicting the adult congregation members as "untrue" or mean, I think he would have put more effort, specifically into word choice, to support the idea and make it stand out. Maybe Hughes wanted to illustrate the power of suggestion. I personally do not think it was primarily about religious drives, but that is definitely a major theme.
My experience is very similar to Kiki’s. My father went to Catholic school for twelve years and was raised in a very religious household. However, as he’s gotten older, he’s moved farther away from religion. My mom went to Catholic school for two years I went for four, so we will occasionally attend church in an attempt to keep religion in our lives, but more often get caught up and forget to go. Having just been confirmed this morning, it is very important to me to have religion as a part of my life in some way going forward. Whether that means attending church every week or just praying on my own once in a while, I will work hard as an adult to remain a person of faith.
Hughes is making a larger point about religion by saying that it has to be your choice. Larissa made a good point about “the power of suggestion”, and I think he wanted to show that it can really turn a person off to something and even send them in the opposite direction.
I really like hearing the opinions of other people on this topic. My experience with religion is that both of my parents grew up going to Catholic school. My dad went for 12 years and my mom went for 8. As a family we still go to church (almost) every Sunday. My parents have many problems with the strict dogma of the Catholic church, and while we do attend a Catholic church it is much more liberal and open than many of the stereotypical Catholic churches. My parents have raised me to believe in the basic morals of our church, such as love your neighbor as your self, but not necessarily to buy into everything that we are told to believe.
I think that Hughes lost faith because he was expected to follow the bible too closely, and to accept everything that he was told, just because that was what the preacher said.
Like many people who have already posted, my parents were both raised as Catholics. Although they give me some level of freedom to make my own choices about religion, and always encourage discussion about it, I definitely feel pressure to follow in thier footsteps. I have a friend who had the courage to listen to herself rather than to everyone's expextations, and wait to get confirmed.
I agree with Arian's point about the lambs and their symbolism. I also think Kiki made a good point; the enthusiasm of the congregation (intended to lead Hughes towards savation), ended up causing the most embarrasement and pain. Something else that I noticed while reading "Salvation" was that the conregation says " Won't you come to Jesus..." and yet, young Hughes waits and waits for Jesus to come to him. This "miscommunication" further illustrates the divide between young/new and old church members that is appearent in Hughes' narration.
I'm very sorry for the many typos!
*expectations
*apparent
*embarrassment
I seemed to have an opposite response to the religious experience than Kiki. I was never really pressured by my mother to be religious, but I was forced to go to Sunday school every Sunday when I was young. In my church we get confirmed when we are in seventh grade. I believe I was too young to make a conscious decision about my religious commitment at that age. It seemed like I was just going through the motions. Since I was confirmed I could count the number of times I have been to church on one hand. Part of that is due to my busy schedule, but it is also because I was never really drawn in to it all. I found it interesting, but it was never really something I felt. Kiki also said, "pushing people towards anything only brings them towards the opposite direction." That statement, in terms of religion, fits me exactly.
I myself have been raised in a very religious family. My dad's parents attend church almost everyday and my mom's parents do the same yet my parents did not take on the severity of their parents religious background. They do sign my brother and I up for Sunday school and we try to attend mass almost every Sunday but they just do not seem as driven as my grandparents. I myself have put forth more of an effort in my church. For my community service hours I teach CCD to first graders and I enjoy learning with them. I agree with Kiki in that it is quite intersting to see the way each generation interprets religion in terms of the amount of pressure by each family member. It is seen in the Salvation piece that Hughes really did want to be religious. He wanted that since of acceptance but he felt bogged down by his entire family with thier constant pressuring and guilt. That is not the meaning of religion. You should not feel pressured to believe due to the will of your parents or family members. It is a decision that comes with time and maturity. And I believe 12 is much too young to make this decision.
I thought that the comment about conformity through the metaphor of lambs and sheep was very clever and fitting. Throughout the "Salvation" the minister was referring to the children awaiting to be saved as the "lambs of god". As time went on, the "lambs or god" all got up off the bench and were saved mostly because they were conforming to what the others were doing, or following them. The cleverness behind this is that lambs or sheep, tend to follow the others, which could be some deeper meaning behind the minister calling them the "lambs of god"
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